Protecting Rights, Checking Power…But How?
As part of the run-up to the 18th Party Congress this fall and subsequent leadership transition, China Media Project analyzes a full-poge spread in People’s Daily on political reform, which utilizes the catch-phrases, “protecting rights” and “checking power”:In terms of breadth and boldness, the People’s Daily series is nothing to write home about. Most of the language is a song of self congratulation from China’s leaders about the progress they say they have already made on political reform. On issues many would regard as fundamental to substantive and meaningful political reform, the People’s Daily series seems to shut the door. It says quite explicitly, for example, that “the leadership of the Party must be upheld”:In actively and steadily promoting political reform we must uphold the fundamental political system and basic economic system of our country. We must uphold as one the three [principles of] the leadership of the Party, the people as masters of their own country (人民当家作主), and governing of the country by rule of law. The obvious problem — arguably the crux of reform itself — is the clear conflict between the first priority, the firm commitment to the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, and… Read more
Word of the Week: The Law is not a Shield
Editor’s Note: The Word of the Week comes from China Digital Space’s Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon, a glossary of terms created by Chinese netizens and frequently encountered in online political discussions. These are the words of China’s online “resistance discourse,” used to mock and subvert the official language around censorship and political correctness. If you are interested in participating in this project by submitting and/or translating terms, please contact the CDT editors at CDT [at] chinadigitaltimes [dot] net. 法律不是挡箭牌 (fǎ lǜ bú shì dǎng jiàn pái): the law is not a shield This statement was made by Jiang Yu, the Foreign Ministry Spokesman. During China’s short lived attempt at following the “Jasmine Revolutions,” of the Middle East, foreign journalists attempting to cover the “revolution” were roughed up by police. At a press conference, journalists asked what law they had violated. The following are Jiang Yu’s comments (translated by Human Rights in China). Question: Can you clearly tell us the specific clause of Chinese law that we have violated? Answer: The violation is of relevant regulations regarding the need for an application when going places to interview people. Don’t use the law as a shield. The real problem is that there are people who want to see the… Read more
Photo: A beach in Qingdao, by Christopher Cherry
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China and the Philippines Both Impose Fishing Bans
Tensions between China and the Philippines are continuing to escalate over the Scarborough Shoal, a series of tiny islands in the South China Sea that is home to numerous minerals and oil reserves. The New York Times provides some background on the dispute:The recent bout of trouble began in April, when Philippine Navy personnel boarded Chinese fishing vessels at Scarborough Shoal, an area about 800 kilometers, or 500 miles, south of China and over 160 kilometers west of the Philippines that is claimed by both countries.The Philippines claimed to have found large quantities of illegal coral and fish on the vessels, and said Chinese surveillance ships had intervened to prevent the fishermen’s arrest, my colleague Jane Perlez reported. Relations between China and the Philippines have deteriorated sharply, with a China Daily article, carried by the People’s Daily Web site, warning Manila today “not to escalate tension.” That follows weeks of growing calls by nationalist Chinese netizens to “teach the Philippines a lesson” and statements in state-run Chinese media that China would consider all options to resolve the dispute. After weeks of tension in the area, which China calls Huangyan Island and the Philippines calls the Panatag Shoal (internationally, it’s… Read more
Evan Osnos: Five Books about China
On his New Yorker blog, Evan Osnos recommends five books about China:The following are all by deeply knowledgeable writers with original observations (rather than a pastiche of the conventional wisdom), and, most unusually, there is not book among them with a dragon on the cover. This list is emphatically incomplete, but in the spirit of another one of my favorite sites, here are five recent titles from the Letter from China bookshelf that are surprising or entertaining or useful.Read more recommendations of books about China from the Five Books’ website, via CDT.
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Cartoon: The Law is not a Shield! by Hexie Farm (蟹农场)
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Bo Xilai, Chen Guangcheng, and the Law in China
The convergence of the two high-profile cases involving former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai, who is being detained on suspicion of corruption, and Chen Guangcheng, a legal activist who escaped de facto house arrest, is bringing the issue of legal justice in China to the forefront. Two essays examine what these cases tell us about the status of the rule of law in China. In the New York Times, Human Rights Watch’s Nicholas Bequelin argues that the law does matter in China as citizens become more active in speaking up for their legal rights:Both cases are widely seen as emblematic. Bo’s embodies the corruption of an unchecked political elite: Communist Party members are investigated by the party’s own disciplinary committee, and not by the courts. Chen’s case is rife with the predatory behavior of local officials whose conduct is more reminiscent of China’s feudal past than of the “new socialist countryside” Beijing leaders claim to be building. Yet it would be a mistake to conclude that the law doesn’t matter in China. First, while Chen’s case entails the catalogue of unlawful measures that are used against government critics, it also embodies the rising assertiveness of a citizenry that is… Read more
Photo: Mother and Child in Yangshuo, by Phil Parsons
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China’s Growth Slows, and Its Political Model Shows Limits
The New York Times’ Edward Wong writes that with the recent economic slowdown and the downfall of former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai, the so-called China model of governance, “a vaguely defined combination of authoritarian politics and state-driven capitalism,” is losing support: But now, with the recent political upheavals, and a growing number of influential voices demanding a resurrection of freer economic policies, it appears that the sense of triumphalism was, at best, premature, and perhaps seriously misguided. Chinese leaders are grappling with a range of uncertainties, from the once-a-decade leadership transition this year that has been marred by a seismic political scandal, to a slowdown of growth in an economy in which deeply entrenched state-owned enterprises and their political patrons have hobbled market forces and private entrepreneurship. “Many economic problems that we face are actually political problems in disguise, such as the nature of the economy, the nature of the ownership system in the country and groups of vested interests,” said Zhang Ming, a political scientist at Renmin University in Beijing. “The problems are so serious that they have to be solved now and can no longer be put off.” On Thursday, China released data that showed its economy… Read more
Hexie Farm (蟹农场)：The Law Is Not a Shield!
For his latest contribution to the Hexie Farm CDT series, cartoonist Crazy Crab looks at last week’s expulsion of Al Jazeera English bureau chief Melissa Chan from China. At a press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei referred repeatedly to “relevant laws and regulations” but failed to answer foreign journalists’ questions about why Chan was not invited back to report from China. All the phrases in this cartoon come from questions asked at the press conference. The title comes from a previous Foreign Ministry press conference, when then-spokesperson Jiang Yu answered foreign journalists’ questions about why they were roughed up while reporting on so-called Jasmine Revolution protests by telling them, “The law is not a shield!” (Read more via CDT’s Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon). Read more about Hexie Farm’s CDT series, including a Q&A with the anonymous cartoonist, and see all cartoons so far in the series. [CDT owns the copyright for all cartoons in the Hexie Farm CDT series. Please do not reproduce without receiving prior permission from CDT.]
© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.usPost tags: Al-Jazeera, foreign correspondents, Foreign Ministry, hexie farm, press freedom… Read more
Ai Weiwei and Fragments of a Cultural Past
Ai Weiwei, who recently has become known for his outspoken activism and online activity, is being recognized in Washington this month for his artwork. Two shows, Fragments at the Sackler Gallery and the Zodiac Heads at the Hirschhorn Museum, showcase two of his major pieces. From the Washington Post: Ai has fused a lot of perennially popular art-world tropes into a single conceptual life-as-art juggernaut. He’s a figurehead of the once-burgeoning Chinese art market, an artist who keeps the line between life and work fluid; an auteur who creates his work in collaboration with other people, like the traditional craftsmen who used post-and-beam construction to assemble “Fragments” without a nail or screw, just a thwack of hammer sending wooden peg through perfectly aligned cut holes. He’s also destroyed artifacts, like the Han Dynasty urn he broke in a triptych of 1995 photos. He’s worked as an architect; sent 1,001 people from China to roam the streets of Kassel, Germany, in one of the works he displayed in the German megashow documenta XII in 2007; made films documenting the physical transformation of Beijing; protested corruption and human-rights violations in China on his blog, which was a part of his art, as… Read more
Photo: Drops, at People’s Hospital of Liuzhou, Guangxi, by Vern Fong
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Suicide Bomber Kills Two in ‘Housing Dispute’
Yet another dispute over reclaimed property has ended violently in Kunming as a woman set off a bomb, killing herself and two others and injuring fourteen, in anger over losing her home. From the BBC:At least 14 people were injured in the blast at a local government office in Yunnan province. The woman also died. The woman had been negotiating compensation for the loss of her home, eyewitnesses said. This incident is a reminder of the tensions in China over the country’s rapid development, correspondents say. “We have opened an investigation. I can’t tell you anything, but three people were killed and 14 were injured,” a local official told the AFP news agency. China Daily has more details:The 10 less injured people have been sent to a local hospital in Qiaojia county, according to the county committee of the Communist Party of China. The incident occurred at around 9 am in Qiaojia county, Zhaotong city, the committee said. While the cause of the explosion is under investigation, it has been reported that it was a bombing. According to the Weibo account of a Kunming metropolis newspaper, a witness said a female went to the demolition bureau with explosives… Read more
Tensions Escalate in South China Sea
The dispute between the Philippines and China over a tiny shoal in the South China Sea has escalated but now appears to be easing again. The dispute began April 10 when the Philippines navy accused Chinese boats of fishing illegally near the Scarborough Shoal (known as the Huangyan Islands in China and Panatag Shoal in the Philippines), an area rich with oil and minerals. Since then the rhetoric has escalated as both sides claim sovereignty over the tiny islands. From the New York Times:The South China Sea has become a major testing ground of China’s foreign policy and its growing maritime power, even as the top Communist Party leadership is preoccupied by a power struggle before the 18th Party Congress to be held this fall. Some Western analysts have suggested that Beijing’s increasing belligerence with the Philippines is aimed at shoring up domestic public opinion during a delicate transition period by using the issue of sovereignty as a popular rallying point. The People’s Liberation Army Daily, the newspaper of the army, ran a tough editorial on Wednesday saying that China would not stand for anyone snatching the sovereignty of Huangyan Island. “Not only the Chinese government will not agree,… Read more
Photo: Dye job, by Michael Steverson
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Photo: Heavy duty, by Land of no cheese
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Chang Ping: China Needs to Address Causes of June 4
Chang Ping, a columnist and former senior editor of Southern Metropolis Weekly, writes in South China Morning Post about the People’s Daily editorial of April 26, 1989, which effectively declared the protests in Tiananmen Square an anti-Party revolt that must be opposed by the Party and the people. He also argues that a reversal of the verdict on the 1989 protest movement will not be effective without resolving the “problem of autocratic leadership”:Between April and June in 2009, I visited the University of Hong Kong three times and watched from the sidelines the heated debate on June 4 that unfolded on campus that year. The dramatic result of the controversy was the ousting of HKU student union president Ayo Chan Yi- ngok, but the fiercest argument was between the Hong Kong and mainland students on their different views about the 1989 protests. Some upset mainland students came to me for answers. I realised that their understanding of the movement was largely based on the so- called “4/ 26 editorial” and its conclusion that “without firmly putting down this upheaval, our country would have no peace”, and we could not enjoy the economic development today. I patiently filled in some… Read more
China: Balancing a Dream
Just as news is breaking that the Chinese government has expelled the first foreign journalist in 14 years, Melissa Chan of Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera’s Witness program posted a documentary which explores the challenges facing investigative reporters in China by following one reporter for the Jinan Times: To be a journalist in today’s China you sometimes need to have a few subtle tricks up your sleeve to get your stories to print. Sun Hua, an award-winning investigative journalist for the Jinan Times, knows just what he can and cannot get away with and how best to persuade his bosses to allow him to continue his work. He is charming, philosophical – and also very determined. This film follows Sun Hua at work as he investigates a story about possible corruption by a property developer, seeking out residents’ views, negotiating demonstrations and dealing with the police. All the time, he quietly considers his position as a journalist in a complex country that itself is dealing with change. He dreams of ‘fairness, objectivity, truth’ – but he also knows there are real limits to what he can do. Yet he continues to push, to persuade and to publish.
©… Read more
Photo: Nanshuiguan Hutong south of Galaxy SOHO, Beijing, by Jim Gourley
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A Car Chase, Secret Talks and Second Thoughts (Updated)
The New York Times talks to the people who helped or encountered Chen Guangcheng during his escape from defacto house arrest in Dongshigu, Shandong Province, his journey to Beijing, and his stay in the U.S. Embassy, to provide a detailed chronology of events:As part of the plan, Mr. Chen feigned sickness for weeks, tricking his minders into thinking he was bedridden. Then, on a moonless night on April 22, he began his mad dash from Dongshigu village, heaving himself over the first of several walls while the guards slept. It was during the first few minutes of his scramble that Mr. Chen severely injured his foot. In all, he told friends he fell 200 times as he made his made his way to a predetermined pickup point. Once there, he slid a battery into the cellphone he had in his pocket and called He Peirong, a former English teacher from the distant city of Nanjing. Ms. He was part of a loose network of freelance rights advocates who had been trying to draw attention to his plight for more than a year. She had tried in previous months to visit Mr. Chen and his wife several times. Each attempt… Read more
Change at Top Media Group Raises Concern
The Nanfang Daily Media Group, which has long produced several of China’s boldest and most independent newspapers, is now under new leadership in a change that may “herald new troubles ahead,” China Media Project reports:According to a news report from Caixin Media today — which happens to be World Press Freedom Day — the position of party secretary at the Nanfang Daily Media Group will now be held by Yang Jian (杨健), who served most recently as deputy minister of Guangdong’s provincial propaganda department. This is the first time a top position at the group will be held by an “outsider,” sources say, and the first time the top positions — party secretary (党委书记) and director (社长) — will be held separately. “There were several attempts in the past to install Party officials at the top level of the Nanfang Daily Group, but these attempts were always successfully opposed by the group,” one former top editor told CMP. Read more about the Southern Daily Media Group and press freedom via CDT.
© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.usPost tags: press freedom, Southern Media Group Download… Read more
Cartoon: “More Glorious than the Sun” by Hexie Farm (蟹农场)
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Hexie Farm (蟹农场): “More Glorious than the Sun”
For his latest contribution to his CDT series, artist Crazy Crab of Hexie Farm looks at the ongoing plight of activist Chen Guangcheng, who had sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing after enduring constant surveillance and abuse at the hands of guards in his hometown in Shandong. Chen is currently in Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing after leaving the embassy. U.S. officials say he left of his own volition after they received assurances from the Chinese government that he would be safe and protected; Chen has said that Chinese officials threatened him and his family if they stayed in the embassy or traveled to the U.S. The cartoon includes Chen, Uncle Sam, and Premier Wen Jiabao depicted as Pinnochio. “More Glorious than the Sun” by Crazy Crab of Hexie Farm for CDT:Caption: Chen Guangcheng: “Premier Wen, I have three requests!” Uncle Sam: ”Wait, wait! Give me a promise!“ Wen Jiabao: ”Trust me! Fairness and justice are more glorious than the sun.“ Read more about Hexie Farm’s CDT series, including a Q&A with the anonymous cartoonist, and see all cartoons so far in the series. Hexie Farm also runs the Dark Glasses. Portrait website in support of Chen Guangcheng. More of his cartoons featuring Chen Guangcheng… Read more
The Great Fall of China
An article in Bloomberg/Business Week calls the fall of Bo Xilai “the most serious threat to [the Communist Party's] authority since the Tiananmen Square uprising of 1989″ and examines the risks for China’s leaders as well as for foreign businesses operating in the country: For China’s partners in commerce, this is a time of confusion and risk—and also opportunity. Western companies such as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Caterpillar (CAT), General Motors (GM), and Siemens (SI) have bet big on the continuation of China’s economic miracle. No sensible CEO dares to kick the Chinese leaders when they’re down. With the outcome still uncertain, no one wants to pick sides, either. Finesse is called for, along with a clear focus on what really matters. Western governments and businesses benefit if China moves in the direction of free markets and democracy. They lose if China’s leaders try vainly to keep the lid on the pressure cooker. While Western leaders don’t have much influence over what happens next, they can at least keep the lines of communication open while quietly appealing to the enlightened self-interest of China’s would-be reformers. “Thinking people understand the need for change,” says Duncan Clark, chairman of Beijing-based consulting group BDA China…. Read more
China’s Fight Against Bribery and Corruption
High-level corruption is in the news with the recent downfall of former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai. But bribery on a much smaller scale is sometimes part of the risk of doing business in China. As part of an effort to stamp out unethical business practices, the government is opening access to a national database of bribery convictions. From a commentary on MarketWatch: Among the ways that China is attempting to take a tougher stance on corruption is by opening access to its centralized database of bribery convictions. This measure, recently enacted by the SPP in partnership with other state anti-corruption agencies, allows for the public disclosure of a repository of individuals and companies convicted of bribery offenses. As a result of the new access to the centralized databases of bribery convictions, businesses in these sectors now have the ability to check companies and/or individuals throughout all of mainland China that might have bribery convictions, eliminating the cumbersome task of checking individual provinces or regions. Anyone discovered to be on the list will likely be disqualified for bidding on government projects. According to the SPP, more than 600,000 such inquiries were submitted in 2011. The national repository of bribery convictions… Read more
